The Boy on the Other Side of the Fence
by Matt Evans
Summary: 'The Boy in the Striped Pajamas' tells a haertbreaking story of a boy named Bruno who meets a boy named Shmuel. This tells the same story but from the point of view of Shmuel.


Matthew Evans

**The Boy on the Other Side of the Fence**

By Matthew Evans

It was exactly half past eight on the 14th of December in 1941 when Shmuel realised exactly what was happening.

Shmuel Feierabend lived with his father in Wilhelmsburg which was a town near Hamburg, Germany. They lived together above a watch-maker's shop in which Shmuel's father made and sold watches. Shmuel had plenty of friends and neighbours, he and his father lived a happy life with hardly any worries, until 1936. That is the year the war started and Shmuel and his father were Jews.

On the 14th of December in 1994 at six o'clock Shmuel was returning home on the four mile trek from school. His father had shut the shop early as he was told by his friends that he knew from the synagogue that there was a meeting at Reiherstig Community Hall that all Jews in the area should attend.

Shmuel could have dropped dead at the thought of walking two miles to Reiherstig on top of the four miles home from Kanzlershof.

"But Papa, I've already had to walk home and it was raining up until I got to Hannoversche Street!"

"No buts Shmuel!" replied his father in a gentle but still stern tone, "We are going Reiherstig and that's final!"

"Surely there is another meeting tomorrow!" pouted Shmuel with puppy-dog eyes, "Why can't you just go by yourself?"

Shmuel's father had always been a sympathetic man, "Oh alright but if I come back and a single biscuit is missing from the jar then I will make you run all the way down to Harmstorf and back!"

Shmuel gave his father a big hug. His father looked down at him with his green eyes and wavy brown hair turning grey at the roots.

"And go wash your face or no supper!"

"Yes papa, thank you papa!" shouted Shmuel as he ran up the stairs to the bathroom. Shmuel's blonde hair blew in the breeze as he swiftly sprinted to the window in his father's room to wave him goodbye as he left.

It was seven o'clock and Shmuel remembered that he had to wash his face. They had a small kitchen with a Glasgow sink and a mirror hanging on the side of the cabinet. Shmuel looked at his face in the mirror, his long blonde hair, his mother's big brown eyes, his small mouth and baby nose and the gap in his teeth where they were falling out. Shmuel knew that eight year olds start losing their teeth at that age but his father said it was due to too much munching on biscuits.

At seven o'clock the door burst open just as Shmuel had finished washing his face, "Papa! You're home!" Shmuel ran up close to his father, "I've washed my face, see?" Shmuel rubbed his face exactly like his father did after he finished shaving. His father gave him a week smile and Shmuel could tell something was wrong. "What's wrong Papa?" His father began to explain.

His father explained the war in more detail. He explained Adolf Hitler, the reason of the war and most importantly, where all the Jews had to go. This is how Shmuel realised exactly what was happening.

But his father had told him that he had seen a video about the camp they were being forced to go with at the meeting. He said it had a café, music hall, bedrooms, everything!

Shmuel was far from eager to go to the camp in Poland on the 18th of December but knew he had to. His bags were taken by Nazi soldiers who grunted at the Jews as they boarded the almost wagon looking vehicle. As the bumpy ride went ahead Shmuel slowly began to drift off to sleep with his father's shoulder as a pillow and his father's hand as a blanket.

Shmuel was awoken by shouting soldiers, they were in Poland! Just through a crack in the wood on the wagon-like vehicle Shmuel could see part of a sign, just a word:

AUSCHWITZ

Shmuel laughed at the silly name as he tried to pronounce it, he couldn't wait to go and get a cake at the café and then go to bed, but the camp was different.

By the next day Shmuel was shocked. He had had his hair shaved off, he had had his belongings taken and he was living on a bottom bunk in a hut filled with what seemed like one hundred men. Shmuel wanted to close his eyes and be back home when he opened them, he thought it was a nightmare.

Shmuel was separated from his father but they knew they would meet at the end of the day. Shmuel had to do his job with his group, help build a new hut for a new load of what seemed like one hundred men.

It was all too much for Shmuel, he had to be alone.

Shmuel walked across the bleak yard. The dust was rolling away from him and to the fence, trying to escape. The soldiers were watching them all constantly but Shmuel found a large pile of rubble. _Probably the last hut that fell down and now __**we **__have to build a new one_ thought Shmuel.

As he sat on the ground he felt his head where his hair once was. His blonde hair shaved off by an angry soldier.

Shmuel was about to cry but then he could see a boy who appeared out of the trees on the other side of the fence. He had black hair and was wearing a brown tank top over a white shirt with black shorts and high socks. If there was one thing Shmuel could say it would be the fact Bruno was definitely not living behind a similar fence.

The boy walked over "Hello" said the boy.

"Hello" replied Shmuel.

"What are you doing?" asked the boy

"We…we're building a new hut" replied Shmuel.

"Why?"

Shmuel shrugged, they got into a long conversation before asking each other their names.

"I'm Bruno" said the boy.

"Shmuel"

"Shmuel?" Bruno looked like he was about to laugh.

Shmuel nodded,

"I've never met anyone named Shmuel before" said Bruno

"I've never met anyone named Bruno"

The sound of a whistle echoed and Bruno shot to his feet.

"Where are you going?" asked Bruno

"I have to go, will you be here tomorrow?"

"Yes" said Bruno.

Shmuel ran back to his hut and the soldiers shouted at him for running too fast, then for walking too slow. When Shmuel returned to his hut he literally flopped onto his bed, he tried to wait for his father but he was asleep before he knew it.

The next day Shmuel and his father locked eyes but the soldiers marched them off. Shmuel waited and a few minutes later Bruno appeared. Shmuel remembered that he hadn't had food in days so he rudely blurted out, "HAVE YOU GOT ANY FOOD?" Bruno said no but he promised he would bring some the next day. Bruno moaned about how miserable it was here so Shmuel agreed but Bruno said he was having the worst time and thought the number on Shmuel's top was part of a game. Shmuel didn't really know why they had numbers but he was sure it wasn't a game.

Bruno and Shmuel met up every day, they talked and ate together but Shmuel panicked when Bruno threw a ball over. Bruno was talking about how he hated his home life and Shmuel talked about how he hated the camp. After about an hour Bruno would run home as Shmuel lifted his wheelbarrow and ran back to the building area to make it look like he actually did something he didn't enjoy, which is what the soldiers wanted.

The next day as Shmuel was on his way to visit Bruno but he was stopped by a soldier. Shmuel thought he had seen him with Bruno and there was punishment ahead.

"Come here! Faster you stupid Jew!" shouted the soldier. He was young with blonde hair that looked like it had been combed one million times.

"Put out your hands!" he demanded, Shmuel did so and the soldier just looked into Shmuel's big brown eyes and grunted "That'll do"

A few minutes later Shmuel found himself inside a room in a big house. There was a table before him with countless amounts of glasses on it. The soldier said that Shmuel's tiny fingers would be aching harder than stepping on a nail once he had finished cleaning all these. "I'll be back to check on you in five minutes, and I want at least fifty glasses cleaned by then!"

As Shmuel was cleaning away he could hear the sound of playful footsteps jumping down the stairs. The sound grew closer towards the door and then a familiar face peeped around. It was Bruno.

"What are you doing here?" Bruno asked while smiling. Shmuel replied but he wasn't smiling. "They wanted someone with tiny hands, to clean all these". Bruno seemed to understand and asked "Aren't you hungry?" Shmuel nodded fast and Bruno came back with a tray of cakes. Shmuel munched away on the cakes and Bruno began to talk, "You know your father?" Shmuel nodded. "Is he a good man?" Shmuel nodded again. "So, are you proud of him?" Shmuel once again nodded. "You know, we're not supposed to be friends". As soon as Bruno finished saying that, the door blew open.

It was the blonde soldier. He locked eyes with Shmuel and walked up to him, he stared him right in the face and spoke through his teeth "How dare you talk to people in the house, how _dare_ you". The soldier looked at his mouth and saw traces of cake. "Have you been eating? Have you been stealing food from the house?" Shmuel panicked and said "NO! He gave it to me" he looked at Bruno "He's my friend". The soldier turned and looked at Bruno "Little man, do you know this Jew?" Bruno didn't answer. "DO YOU KNOW THIS JEW?"

"NO!" Bruno replied quickly, "I just came in and he was helping himself!"

"Little man" said the soldier "I think you'd better leave. And YOU…!" he shouted at Shmuel, "…when I come back I want to see al these glasses cleaned, then we'll have a little chat about boys who steal."

Shmuel sat at the fence the next day with his head down, when Bruno arrived; he slowly looked up and said nothing. Bruno noticed the black eye Shmuel had. Shmuel stood up and walked away.

Nonetheless, the next day Shmuel did return to the fence to meet Bruno but it was because of a dilemma. "I can't find papa!" Bruno looked worried and said "I wish I could come over and help you find him. That would be the best adventure ever!" Bruno started poking under the fence with a stick. Bruno gasped. "I can dig under!" Shmuel looked at him as if he was an idiot,

"With that stick?" Bruno explained how he could bring a shovel even though Shmuel said he wouldn't like it over here. Shmuel thought there was no stopping Bruno and said that there was a whole hut filled with pyjamas that Bruno could wear in disguise. They agreed it was a plan and they would meet tomorrow.

The next day Shmuel smuggled some pyjamas from the hut and wore them over his own. When he got to the fence Bruno was already there waiting. Shmuel passed the pyjamas through the fence and eventually Bruno dug a big enough hole to be able to fit through. Bruno passed under the fence and they ran laughing towards the huts. "We'll check _our _hut first". Shmuel could see Bruno didn't like the look of the camp and when they got to the hut filled with what seemed like one hundred men Bruno was shocked.

Suddenly, a group of soldiers got burst through the doors telling them to march, they marched outside through the pouring rain, "What are we doing?" asked Bruno. "Don't know, some people just have to march sometimes". Shmuel, Bruno and all the other men in the hut were marched down steps into an underground room filled with benches. As they were crammed in the soldiers told them to remove their clothes.

They did as they were told and even Shmuel was panicking, he thought they just had to be in here because of the rain but now he really didn't know. A man called out "It's just a shower" but that didn't make anyone any calmer. All the men were hurried into another room with no lights. Bruno and Shmuel held hands as the men screamed when something was dropped through the roof. Everyone in the room started to feel dizzy, slowly they dropped to the floor, just lying there, then darkness.

Soon, in the distance, two chimneys had smoke blowing out of them and in the distance you could just hear a woman wailing.


End file.
